Samuel L. Southard was born in Basking Ridge,
New Jersey on June 9, 1787. He was educated
in a classical school run by Reverend Bob
Finley. He attended the College of New Jersey,
which later became Princeton University, where
he graduated in 1804. He studied law and was
admitted to the Virginia Bar Association in
1809. He returned to New Jersey and began
practice in Flemington in 1811. Southard was
appointed a law reporter of the Supreme Court
by the New Jersey Legislature in 1814. The
following year he was elected to the New Jersey
General Assembly. He resigned from the General
Assembly when he was designated to the state
Supreme Court bench. He served as Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court from 1815-1820.

Southard was elected state Attorney General
in 1829. The leader of the National Republican
party in New Jersey, Southard was elected
Governor of New Jersey on October 26, 1832.
He served until February 23, 1833, when he
resigned to become a Senator. Southard remained
in the Senate for the rest of his life. When
not engaged in politics, he was an active
member of the New Jersey Bar and occasionally
argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.